The CPI team argues its reporter did the bulk of the reporting, pouring over documents for a year, and rightfully deserves the award. ABC News president, in a 4-page letter to CPI, says his team was an equal partner. You can see the CPI series here. See the ABC news stories here.

The whole situation raises some interesting questions about the nature of the collaborative partnerships between nonprofit news groups, digital sites and mainstream news outlets. ABC has a bigger platform to disseminate the stories the CPI team reported, certainly. But where does the line get drawn when awards are handed out? This is relevant as other groups, such as ProPublica, often partner with other outlets to split reporting and disseminate stories to bigger potential audiences. How do you split the accolades?